Yellow Jersey

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT YELLOW JERSEY - PAGE 4

PARIS (Reuters) - South African Daryl Impey, who wore the yellow jersey on last year's Tour de France, failed an anti-doping test for the masking agent Probenecid, the Orica-GreenEdge rider said on Wednesday. Probenecid is used to mask the use of doping substances, anabolic drugs in particular. Impey was not included in Orica-GreenEdge's nine-man Tour de France team, which came as a surprise when the Australian outfit made their announcement on Tuesday. "Further to the announcement of the Tour de France team and in the interests of full disclosure, I confirm that on 23 June 2014, I was notified by William Newman, the President of Cycling South Africa, about an adverse analytical finding for Probenecid following an in-competition test at the national time trial championships on 6 February 2014," Impey said in a statement.

The twisting Alpine asphalt already was eating up challengers at every mile Tuesday, but rather than staying conservative and allowing the high altitude real estate to carve up his competition for him, Lance Armstrong threw down a challenge to the yellow jersey hopefuls. He whispered for Yaroslav Popovych, the only teammate still with him on the climb, to up the tempo with about 8 miles to go in Stage 10. Popovych sprinted. Armstrong looked back. Then in near disbelief, he looked over his right shoulder again.

MULHOUSE France (Reuters) - Germany's Tony Martin powered to an impressive victory in the ninth stage of the Tour de France after a 155-km mountain raid in the Vosges that saw Vincenzo Nibali surrender the yellow jersey to France's Tony Gallopin on Sunday. Time-trial world champion Martin attacked after 15 km and dropped his breakaway companion with just under 60 left to win his third Tour stage following time trial victories in 2011 and 2013. Gallopin took the overall leader's yellow jersey after Nibali's Astana team did not chase hard to catch a counter-attacking group.

NANCY France (Reuters) - With defending champion Chris Froome out of the picture the Tour de France looks wide open despite Vincenzo Nibali's decent advantage, with his rivals poised to set off fireworks in the testing Vosges massif. Italian champion Nibali leads his main yellow jersey rivals by at least one minute 45 seconds as the race heads into its first mountain stint on Saturday and Team Sky will not be there to control the race as they did in the past two editions. The Astana rider impressed with a brilliant display on the cobbles in Wednesday's fifth stage while most of the other top contenders struggled.

Look, Lance Armstrong says, he is not riding the 2005 Tour de France to finish second. If his enthusiasm for racing 2,226 miles over 22 days did not start burning hot until this spring, if his training has been less lengthy, if he seems distracted from the painfully boring matters of weighing his food by the ounce, of rising at dawn to ride hills over and over, of living an ascetic life devoted to wearing a bright, yellow jersey on July 24,...

The Tour de France shattered on several planes Thursday as riders undertook their first journey into the mountains: Greg LeMond lost his yellow jersey as the overall leader, and the rest of the top leadership was rearranged, but only after riders staged a 40-minute strike and refused to wear safety helmets. That was for openers. The closer was a three-man finish more than seven minutes ahead of the former leaders. France's Luc Leblanc vaulted from that finish into the yellow jersey.

Our daily look at the 91st Tour de France and Lance Armstrong's quest for a sixth straight title, not necessarily in that order. Lance's miles: 9.6 miles, all uphill. Lance's day: He simply dominated. He won the time trial high in the Alps and did the 9.6-mile climb through 21 hairpin turns to the L'Alpe d'Huez ski station in 39 minutes 41 seconds--the only rider under 40 minutes. And yes, Robin Williams was there again with a hairy victory hug. News about riders not named Lance: His main rivals are falling farther back.

* Georges wins stage six after solo ride * Zabriskie retains yellow jersey (Adds quotes) BIG BEAR LAKE, California, May 1 (Reuters) - Sylvain Georges won the sixth stage of the Tour of California on Friday after a daring solo ride through the mountains. The Frenchman found himself out alone in front for the last quarter of the 186.3 kilometre (115.7 mile) stage from Palmdale to Big Bear Lake after leading a seven-man breakaway. "âFor me it's the most beautiful victory of my career," said Georges.

Lance Armstrong finished in 80th place in the second stage of the Tour de France on Monday and again had to fend off questions about drugs and cycling. Belgium's Marc Wauters won the stage and took the overall lead. Armstrong, bidding for a third straight title, crossed the line in the main pack, 22 seconds behind Wauters. The Texan dropped from third to 11th place in the overall standings but still remains a favorite to win his sport's most grueling event. Riders will cover more than 2,100 miles in the three-week race that ends July 29 in Paris.